PACWTC announced the selection of the Brooklyn-based firm REX as the lead architect for The Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center.
Scheduled to open in 2022, PACWTC will serve as a major new addition to New York’s cultural landscape, producing and premiering works of theater, dance, music, musical theater, opera, and film, as well as productions that cross multiple disciplines. The roughly 80,000 square-foot building, which will incorporate leading edge technology, will also serve as a home for the Tribeca Film Festival during its annual run.
The selection of REX follows last week’s re-affirmation of support for the PACWTC by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), which released the first $10 million of the $99 million that the LMDC has pledged to the project. The balance of the project cost – which will be determined once the design process is complete – will be funded through private sources.
REX, led by Joshua Prince-Ramus, was selected after a rigorous invitational process that focused on architectural firms that have gained distinction through their celebrated work on performing arts houses. The three finalists were: Henning Larsen (Denmark), UNStudio (The Netherlands), and REX(United States). REX’s internationally praised work includes the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, the Vakko Fashion Center in Istanbul, and the Seattle Central Library, for which Prince-Ramuswas partner-in-charge when he was the founding principal of OMA New York.
About The Performing Arts Center at The World Trade Center
The Performing Arts Center at The World TradeCenter will be a global center for the creation andexchange of art, ideas, and culture that willwelcome audiences, artists, residents, workers,and visitors alike. PACWTC will be a hub for the Lower Manhattan community to enjoy, day and night. It will present adiverse variety of artistic and cultural experiencesas well as places and ways to meet, play,collaborate, eat, and drink. Vibrant with energy, intelligence, insight, and pleasure, PACWTC will make profound connections. It will bring big ideas, deep emotions,and unforgettable artistic experiences to therenewed Lower Manhattan neighborhood andbeyond.
